First Day of Manchester FIRST Robotics Regional Competition

Congratulations to my Son Tim’s Team, who received the Rockwell Automation Innovation in Control Award today at the FIRST Regional Competition at the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, NH. Team 1519, Mechanical Mayhem, from Milford, NH.

MANCHESTER, N.H. – The 2010 Granite State Regional FIRST Robotics competition, sponsored by BAE Systems, brings students and their mentors together in a two-day competition that emphasizes teamwork, innovation, and strategy.

The first day of competition ended with several teams receiving awards:

* The Outstanding Volunteer Award went to Luan and Mike Heimlich, a New Hampshire couple who moved to Australia in 2009 and began the FIRST program there – bringing the country’s first FIRST team back for the Granite State Regional.
* The Imagery Award went to South Portland High School in Maine, for their attractiveness in engineering and outstanding visual aesthetic integration from the machine to the team appearance.
* Trinity High School from Manchester, N.H., received the Engineering Excellence Award. The award recognizes an elegant and advantageous machine feature. The team’s hurdling arm was particularly effective in game play.
* Milford Area Youth Homeschoolers Enriching Minds from Milford, N.H., received the Rockwell Automation Innovation in Control Award for an innovative control system or application of control components to provide unique machine functions. The award recognized the team’s powered mechanical system to manipulate the ball.
* The Xerox Creativity Award went to Walpole High School from Walpole, Mass. The award celebrates creative design, use of a component, or a creative or unique strategy of play. The team used a center pivot design for their frame.
* The Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers Entrepreneurship Award went to Shenendehowa High School from Clifton Park, N.Y. The award honors a team that is unique, enthusiastic and well organized, and one whose well-honed business skills will keep them operating successfully for years to come. This rookie team of freshmen and sophomores assembled a team handbook that included a long-term strategy.
* Manchester High School West from Manchester, N.H., received the Website Award, which recognizes excellence in student-designed, built and managed FIRST team site.
* The Rookie Inspiration Award recognizes outstanding effort as a FIRST team in community outreach and recruiting students to engineering. The award went to the Local Supporters and Safford Robotics Group from Hollis, N.H.
* Jeff Reuter a team mentor for Hollis-Brookline High School in Hollis, N.H., received the Dr. Woodie Flowers Award that honors outstanding contributions to the mission of FIRST.

Final rounds are scheduled to start at 1 p.m. Saturday, March 6. The Granite State Regional Finals will broadcast live play-by-play action from noon to 3 p.m. The broadcast will be hosted by Tech Talk’s Craig Peterson. The competition will be on WGIR locally, and will be streamed on the internet at http://www.iheartradio.com.
All times are subject to change. The event is open to the public. Admission is free, and seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.